(Seychelles News Agency) - A Kenyan businessman has been sentenced to life in prison by the Seychelles' top court on Wednesday for importing drugs, the National Drugs Enforcement Agency said.

The Seychelles Supreme Court imposed the sentence on Rashid Mohamed Liwasa, a 41-year old from Kenya in East Africa under the amended Misuse of Drugs Act, the agency said in a statement Thursday.   

Liwasa was carrying 683 grams of heroin with a street value of $164,000 when he was arrested, the statement said. Seychelles' custom officers had alerted the enforcement agency after discovering suspicious items in the Kenyan’s luggage on his arrival in August 2013, the statement said.

Rashid Mohamed Liwasa sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Drug Importation ( NDEA) Photo License: CC-BY

This is the second time a life sentence has been imposed by the top court in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, since the Misuse of Drugs Act was amended in August 2012. 

With the amendment, offences that carry a life sentence include manufacturing, importing and trafficking drugs of an amount in excess of 250 grams. Prior to that, the minimum sentence for trafficking of more than 250 grams was between 8 to 30 years imprisonment.  

The drug enforcement agency conducts intensive monitoring of arriving passengers and cargo to prevent the arrival of controlled drugs into the country.